St Kilda

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

Fans of The Sea of Adventure will enjoy this programme. I've always loved the descriptions of the bird islands, and here they are!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/ ... d=b00c6sj3" target="_blank

Best wishes

Viv

[Moonraker]

What a programme. Superb. I was almost in tears at times, imagining Phil and Jack to be there. What about those puffins? When they arrrrred, I was amazed! It was higher pitched than I had imagined, but, oh boy! That little puffling, too! (That word reminded me of Benny's pigling!)

The sight of those birds falling off the ledges was just as described in Sea of Adventure.

How clever of Enid to so accurately describe the birdlife and islands. How that storm blew up, as well.

What a pity the presenter didn't have to light a fire to get rescued, and what a pity it was a helicopter that rescued him and not a seaplane. He talked of the fact that the small island of Boreray only had one visitor every couple of years or so; wonder if Horace was one of them?

Finally, I'm sure I spotted Huffin and Puffin.

Telgraph review

[Daisy]

What a lovely programme! I too was immediately reminded of the Sea of Adventure - one of my favourites. It was great to see Huffin (or was it Puffin?) carrying fish in his beak just as Enid described! Perhaps it's as well the presenter didn't have to light a fire as collecting any sort of burnable stuff looked mighty dangerous to me! Those cliffs were decidedly off-putting. I was amused at the small tents they used - and glad for their sakes that they were modern ones with built-in groundsheets, much less likely to be blown away in a storm when your full weight is holding them down! How those men and boys marooned there for the whole of the winter managed to survive is a wonder. Did they live in the puffin burrows as the children had to do in the story? Great stuff - it was like a walk down an imaginary memory lane! Next time I read the book I shall have even more vivid pictures in my mind. Did Enid ever go there? She must have done some research for the book. Her knowledge is so spot on.

[Susie]

That was amazing! I don't have words to express my feelings. I felt like I was with them. They must have been very strong people.
Do you think the Vikings had prisoners of war on their boats? It seemed to me that there was an absolute mixture of races on the island. Some looked Eastern European some rather Gypsy like, Some looked like Eskimos, and some like they said looked and were Scottish and Irish.
I wonder how smallpox came along, My dad thinks it was brought in by the wind.
Thanks Viv for sharing it with us, that was brilliant!
A bit like the story "Swiss family Robinson."

Did Enid ever go there? She must have done some research for the book. Her knowledge is so spot on.

I was thinking the same thing.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Great stuff - it was like a walk down an imaginary memory lane!

I felt the same! Enthralling and exhilarating viewing! Thanks so much, Viv, for providing the link.

I was almost in tears at times, imagining Phil and Jack to be there.

I read your comment before seeing the programme, Nigel, and thought, "Oh, you old softie!" But when I watched it I got a lump in my throat too as I looked at the circling, calling seabirds!

We talked briefly about St. Kilda in the "Great Auks" thread a few weeks ago so it was incredible to see the old footage of the islanders with their spinning-wheels etc, and the long street of stone cottages.

I loved the names given to some of the places on Boreray - Cliff of Thunders and Vertigo Slope. That reminded me of how Jack and the others give names to different areas on one of the islands they visit in The Sea of Adventure - names like Sleepy Hollow and Hidden Harbour.

Enid Blyton certainly went to Scotland but I don't know whether she would have gone to such remote islands. Perhaps she visited places on the mainland which attract a lot of seabirds, or went to islands nearer the mainland? No doubt she would also have read books or articles on the topic, which would surely have interested her.

Anita

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

I have just downloaded and watched the second St Kilda programme

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b00cb86v.shtml" target="_blank

Another wonderful programme, with a poignant section about a crashed flying boat. It's available for a few more days - and then the final episode.

Best wishes

Viv

[Moonraker]

We've watched them all now. What an incredibly great programme. The only pity was that Kate Humble wasn't blown over a cliff!
I just want to go there! I'd hire a boat - making sure that all of the petrol cans were full - and away we'd go!
We could probably stay in one of the old St Kildan's cottages. I am sure we could patch it up. Plenty of room for Tony, Anita, Ming and me!
Any one else fancy it?

[Daisy]

Yes please! Count me in. With many years of camping experience with the Guides I can cook meals on a camp fire so long as there's enough burnable wood around! Also porridge cooked overnight in the haybox can't be beaten when the cold winds are blowing so hard you can't light the fire!

[Anita Bensoussane]

I'd hire a boat - making sure that all of the petrol cans were full...

...of beer, probably!

I'd absolutely love to camp out at St. Kilda. Wonder what the islanders ate besides seabirds? I'd have thought they'd have eaten fish, seaweed and birds' eggs. And in the footage of the villagers in the first programme (I haven't had time to watch the second yet) we saw lots of sheep and a few cows, so they could have had milk, butter and cheese and possibly beef and lamb. We also heard that they grew barley and presumably other crops as well, and that it might partly have been down to the eventual failure of those crops that they finally left the island. Interesting stuff - a very different way of life.

Anita

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

There was a wonderful piece about Puffins on the One Show tonight, from Skomer, an Island off SW Wales.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/theoneshow/article ... cles.shtml" target="_blank

Things I didn't know - a puffin has lived for 37 years - one has held over 80 fish in its beak!

Viv

[Rob Houghton]

There was a wonderful piece about Puffins on the One Show tonight, from Skomer, an Island off SW Wales.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/theoneshow/article" target="_blank ... cles.shtml

Things I didn't know - a puffin has lived for 37 years - one has held over 80 fish in its beak!

Viv

Yes, I saw the One show article. the islands they were on really reminded me of the puffin island in The Sea of Adventure

[Anita Bensoussane]

Interesting about puffins having serrated tongues to help them hold fish in their beaks. I didn't know that before.

Anita

[Susie]

I enjoyed it but found the first episode more informative. The phone rang in the middle of it, so I clicked the pause button and ran to answer it. My mother walked in and saw this humongous mouse on the screen, she gave a gasp and nearly dropped the lunch she was holding.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Have watched Part 2 of the St. Kilda programme and was amazed to hear about islanders being left deaf for days by the noise of storms. Less surprising was the information that sheep sometimes get blown off the cliffs in the strong winds.

Incredible to see large fragments of a Second World War plane still lying in the valley where it crashed one bleak, misty night in the 1940s. Very poignant that, according to one account, one crewman survived and took shelter, only to die anyway because rescuers arrived too late.

Anita

[Anita Bensoussane]

Just wondering whether Episode 3 is going to be made available online? I thought it would be up by now but I searched and couldn't find it.

Anita